Black and grey fine line tattoo of a bow and arrow inside overlapping circles with dotted arcs, on the ribs.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Bow and arrow within overlapping circles

Fine line · Ribs · Black and grey · Photo

A bow and arrow sit at the centre of a geometric composition of overlapping circles and dotted arcs. The bow is drawn with a thin outline and a small patterned section on its grip, while the arrow is shown with a feathered tail and a triangular head. Thin, even linework and light shading are set on pale skin, with no colour used.

Fine line Geometric Ribs Bow Arrow Circle Dotted line Geometric shape

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

You find the bow behind the potting shed, wrapped in a bin bag that has gone brittle over three winters. Your grandfather strung it for the village fête the summer before his hip went, and the string still holds, though the grip has faded to the colour of weak tea. Beside it lies a sheaf of arrows with triangular heads, and a pair of brass compasses he used for laying out the lawn.

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The lawn is marked the way he marked it: four circles drawn in lime powder on the grass, each one a little off true, each one overlapping the next. He said the trick was that no circle was the target. The target was wherever two of them crossed. You stand at the edge where the pegs are, nock an arrow, and draw until the string rests where he always said it should, and you stop thinking about the sky.

The first shot goes wide into the hedge. The second drops short and skips across the path. You keep counting the way he counted, one, two, under your breath, and on the seventh you let go too late. The arrow hums away low over the rose bed and lands point first exactly where the second and third circles cross, then stands there, quivering, as if it had been waiting for someone to measure the distance.

You walk out and work it free. The earth is soft and dark where it went in. You leave the bow leaning against the shed, put the compasses in your pocket, and mark the spot with a single lime dot, which is what he would have done. Next spring the grass will grow over it, and nobody will know the exact place, only that it lies where the lines agree.